The Harlem Hellfighters Read online

  1. It should be well known to all colored officers and men that no useful purpose is served by such acts as will cause the “color question” to be raised. It is not a question of legal rights, but a question of policy, and any policy that tends to bring about a conflict of races, with its resulting animosities, is prejudicial to the military interest of the 92nd Division, and therefore prejudicial to an important interest of the colored race.

  2. To avoid such conflicts the Division Commander has repeatedly urged that all colored members of his command, and especially the officers and non-commissioned officers, should refrain from going where their presence will be resented. In spite of this injunction, one of the sergeants of the Medical Department has recently precipitated the precise trouble that should be avoided, and then called on the Division Commander to take sides in a row that should never have occurred had the sergeant placed the general good above his personal pleasure and convenience. The sergeant entered a theater, as he undoubtedly had a legal right to do, and precipitated trouble by making it possible to allege race discrimination in the seat he was given. He is strictly within his legal rights in this matter, and the theater manager was legally wrong. Nevertheless the sergeant is guilty of the GREATER wrong in doing ANYTHING, NO MATTER HOW LEGALLY CORRECT, that will provoke race animosity.

  3. The Division Commander repeats that the success of the Division with all that success implies, is dependent upon the good will of the public. That public is nine tenths white. White men made the Division, and they can break it just as easily if it becomes a trouble maker.

  4. All concerned are again enjoined to place the general interest of the Division above personal pride and gratification. Avoid every situation that can give rise to racial ill-will. Attend quietly and faithfully to your duties, and don’t go where your presence is not desired.

  5. This will be read to all organizations of the 92nd Division.

  By command of Major-General Ballou.

  * * *

  General Ballou’s message was loud and clear. It didn’t matter to him if what was happening to his men was legal or illegal. If there were local bigots who didn’t want blacks around, then the blacks should stay away.

  It was essential for soldiers to overcome their fears. The safety and well-being of the soldier, his regiment, and perhaps even his country would depend on it. But for some Americans the idea of racial superiority had become the more important issue.

  Segregated facilities

  General Ballou, born in the South and raised in the traditions he was upholding, stated that white men had created the 15th and white men could break it up if it became a “trouble maker.” But could the United States simply reject all black soldiers? What would the effect on the country have been? Rejected from the army, would blacks support the war effort? Would white soldiers fight if their black neighbors did not have to? It was an issue that threatened to tear the nation apart.

  Many of the other white military units on the base defended the black soldiers, refusing to join in with the local racists. Northern white soldiers often refused to patronize white stores that refused to serve black soldiers. Fights broke out between Northern and Southern units.

  Spartanburg had asked for the military camp, knowing that it would be an economic boon for the area. But cheap black labor, which was abundant in South Carolina, was also an economic boon, one the South did not want to give up.

  Emmett Scott was sent to Spartanburg to calm things down. He was not well received.

  Scott’s views concerning race relations matched those of his former boss, Booker T. Washington. Scott was anxious to please Secretary Baker and tried to ease the problem by speaking to the senior black enlisted men. His idea was that they should avoid racial trouble at all costs, and that their ability to get along with whites, no matter how personally disagreeable, would help the black cause.

  Considerations of race clearly outweighed the needs of the country in Spartanburg in the fall of 1917. The problem for the small Southern city was that the inhabitants knew the war would not last forever, but their relationships with the black community would.

  Not all of Spartanburg’s residents went along with the mayor. Some invited Hayward and other white officers to sit down and talk about ways of avoiding trouble. A dance was arranged for the men, and the black citizens of Spartanburg invited the soldiers into their churches, into their homes, and into their hearts. The 15th’s band, led by James Reese Europe and drum major Noble Sissle, played in the town square. It was probably the best music the town had ever heard, played by musicians whose fame would soon be worldwide.

  But some residents of the small town were determined to make trouble. There was talk that black soldiers had insulted a white woman. There were several incidents in which black officers were abused by local toughs. But the most dangerous incident occurred when a rumor started that two black soldiers either had been or were about to be lynched. The talk quickly circulated through the regiment. A group of forty-three soldiers—men who had been trained to use their weapons and use them well—assembled and marched into town. Two soldiers went into the police station to inquire about the “missing men,” while the others, their guns fully loaded, waited outside.

  A black sergeant found out about the foray and reported it to Colonel Hayward. Hayward grabbed a vehicle and rushed into town, where he found the men waiting. He went into the police station, ascertained that the two men had never been in police custody, and hustled his soldiers out of town as quickly as he could.

  Another serious incident occurred when Sergeant Noble Sissle and Lieutenant James Reese Europe encountered trouble in town. Noble Sissle was one of the most sophisticated and accomplished men in the 15th. A handsome, well-spoken man, he had directed a band; he wrote music, sang, and played for New York’s high society. His manners were impeccable and his speech was perfect, making him just the kind of African American who annoyed bigots. Sissle had gone into a hotel lobby to buy a newspaper and was physically abused by a hotel employee. He made his way out onto the street, and a group of white soldiers took up his cause and threatened to tear up the hotel lobby, but they were stopped by James Reese Europe.

  For the men of the 15th, and for the white soldiers who supported them, the incident emphasized the entire racial problem. Any white person intent on making trouble could undo all the goodwill that had been created, and the black soldiers could not respond. These were men who were to fight for their country but who were being shown that much of their country would not respect them as either soldiers or men. Colonel Hayward contacted the local press and asked them not to report the incident, and it was agreed that they would not. The black press, on the other hand, reported the incident and raised objections. The bulletin was brought up by the black press and pointed to as evidence that the commanding officers of the black soldiers were prejudiced. General Ballou complained that his motives were being misrepresented, that he had merely written a bulletin designed to make it easier for the black soldiers to avoid trouble.

  On October 24, less than two weeks after they had arrived, the 15th was moved out of Spartanburg. They had missed valuable training, and many were feeling discouraged.

  The army decided to ship the 15th to France immediately and continue their training abroad.

  The men were glad to return to New York and eager to begin the adventure of traveling by ship to France. On November 11, 1917, they were taken to Hoboken, New Jersey, where the Pocahontas, an oceangoing transport ship, waited. That night, its lights darkened because of the fear of German submarines, the ship moved away from its pier. The men were finally on their way. Almost.

  The next day the ship turned back with a damaged piston rod. Instead of France, the men were now scheduled to go to Camp Merritt, near Cresskill, New Jersey.

  At Camp Merritt the talk among the officers was about the Russian Revolution. The Bolsheviks had taken over the government and signed a treaty with Germany. The treaty would free German soldiers fighting again
st Russia on the eastern front. Military experts began predicting a major German offensive in the coming spring. To many, the economics of the war seemed to be forcing the conflict to an ending. The strains could be read in newspapers all across Europe.

  In Great Britain factory workers were out on strike. Material shortages in France had already hurt the French army. But if things were bad in the factories, they were even worse in the homes. People across Europe were suffering from a scarcity of food. The United States Food Administration published the Hunger Map of Europe, showing famine conditions in eastern Europe, Russia, and Finland and serious conditions throughout the continent.

  European newspapers asked, “Where are the Americans?” There was a growing sense of urgency for American fighting men to enter the war.

  It took three weeks to repair the Pocahontas, but on December 2 the 15th was prepared to start again. There was one more mishap: The Pocahontas was struck on a foggy night by a British tanker. The damage was minor, but the Pocahontas needed repairs. The Navy men wanted to take it back to port for the repairs, but Hayward would have none of it and insisted it could be repaired at sea. It was, and the ship once again began its journey across the Atlantic.

  A desperate Europe

  On December 27 land was sighted. They had reached France. The men were confined to the ship until New Year’s Day but were happy to be the first black unit to reach Europe.

  10

  CARRYING THE FLAG TO FRANCE

  France! Few of the young men who made up the 15th had traveled far from their homes before entering the army. Now they were across the Atlantic Ocean in a place where the language was foreign, the sights were new, and even the color of their skin meant something different than it had in the United States. The band, with James Reese Europe as its head, was assigned to go on a goodwill mission to entertain French civilians. They went on a thirty-seven-day tour, playing for a war-weary population. Everywhere they went, they were well received. The band, made up of American blacks and Puerto Ricans, played music that the Europeans hadn’t heard before.

  At Nantes, Angers, and Tours the band was received with enthusiasm. These were the Americans, come to save a grateful France. At Chambéry they played for an orphans’ home. At the conclusion of the outdoor concert James Reese Europe presented his baton to a young boy who had been watching and imitating him. The crowd, touched by the black man’s humanity, applauded wildly.

  But the 15th was not in France merely to be entertainers. And while the French did not discriminate on the basis of color, the American army still saw race as a problem.

  The war in Europe had been dragging on for years with little advancement on either side. Both the Central Powers and the Allies were suffering from huge losses in manpower as well as food shortages. French casualty lists ran as high as 70 percent killed or wounded. Now the Americans were bringing in shiploads of equipment and supplies, which would give the Allies a huge boost.

  Most of the black soldiers, including members of the 15th, were being pressed into unloading the ships at Brest and other ports. The men began to complain. They had hoped for an opportunity to serve their country with courage and to prove their right to full citizenship, but now they were being reduced to common laborers. However, the need for labor and supplies was explained and the officers of the 15th, both black and white, emphasized the importance of getting the fresh equipment to the front lines.

  James Reese Europe and the 15th’s band

  But the men of the 15th did not want to be laborers. They had felt that the war would give them a chance to prove who they were as a people, and they wanted to participate in the upcoming battles. They were moved to a swampy area near Saint-Nazaire, south of Brest. There they saw hundreds of black soldiers cutting down trees and heavy vegetation, digging drainage ditches, and building roads. The fact that they were always being supervised by whites reminded some of the men of Southern chain gangs.

  Unloading supplies at Brest

  The War Department had created two black infantry divisions, the 92nd and the 93rd. The 15th, which had carried its National Guard colors into France, was assigned to the 93rd and later became the 369th Infantry Regiment. This reorganization into the regular Army was routinely done to maintain a consistent order.

  Assigned to Services of Supplies

  General John “Black Jack” Pershing, head of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), had already offered to lend both black divisions to the Allies. He offered the 93rd to the French and the 92nd to the British. The British immediately refused the black soldiers. The French, desperate for manpower, accepted the offer.

  In mid-March the negotiations between the French army and the Americans were completed, and the unit from Harlem was officially assigned to the 16th French Division. The former 15th, now the 369th, continued to wear their American uniforms, but they were given French helmets, rifles, gas masks, and other gear.

  John J. Pershing

  Pershing had faced a dilemma. He knew that the basic motivation for the fighting man was the idea that he would be risking his life for his own country and for his loved ones back home. The American general had resisted the idea of having American soldiers fight under the French flag, but he also knew that if the French were going to continue to be an effective fighting force, they would need replacements. He was also aware of the discomfort that many of his officers felt about using black soldiers in combat. For the American government the issue of race relations was an important one, and the War Department wanted to try to maintain the status quo at home even if it meant some mistreatment of black soldiers overseas. This was in direct conflict with the expectations of many of the soldiers and of the black population, who hoped that their participation in the war would help bring an end to segregation in the States.

  With the French army in the trenches

  No-man’s-land

  Later a French memo would be discovered showing the marked difference between the two nations. Entitled “Secret Information Concerning Black American Troops,” it suggested that the French officers should not become too friendly with black officers: “We may be courteous and amiable with these last, but we cannot deal with them on the same plane as with the white American officers without deeply wounding the latter.”

  The letter was read in the French General Assembly after the war, much to the embarrassment of the French people. It was clear, however, that the source of the “instructions” was white American officers.

  With the French army the 369th began its approach toward the war zone. The signs of combat were everywhere: the shells of buildings starkly silhouetted against the clear French sky; ruined vehicles, twisted and charred, by the sides of the roads; trees reduced to splinters; fields pockmarked with deep crevices made by explosives; the carcasses of dead animals; fences that once separated fruitful fields lying flat across the rolling landscape. And always, in the distance, the low rumble of artillery. The men, usually lighthearted, became deadly serious. They had wanted combat, and now they were headed toward the front lines. Thoughts of home flitted through the minds of men who previously were marveling only at the new land they were seeing. New cemeteries, the white crosses planted in neat rows like rigidly angled lilies, were constant reminders of the dangers that lay ahead.

  As the men marched along the highways toward the front lines, seeing the devastation all around them, they had to wonder about their own lack of training. Combat infantry outfits normally train for four to five months before engaging an enemy. The 369th had had very little advanced training, none with their French weapons.

  The men had to learn to use the French Lebel rifle, which was not nearly as good as the American Springfield. The American officers also had to learn to communicate with their French counterparts, and an intensive training period began. The 369th was going to go into combat under the flag of officers most could not understand.

  American cemetery in France.

  Training with the French

  German prop
aganda

  But the French soldiers treated them as equals, and with respect. French soldiers were assigned to work with the Americans to help them understand the difficulties they would be facing. The men from Harlem, in turn, put their hearts into the training. By mid-April, one month after they had been officially assigned to fight with the French army, the 369th was assigned a position near the Argonne Forest. They took more training at Maffrecourt, a relatively flat area that bore the marks of war. The distant booming of the big guns seemed very close, and occasionally the ground would shake with the impact of falling shells. The Germans were aware that the black soldiers were with the French. They dropped propaganda leaflets challenging their bravery or asking why, if they were treated so badly at home, they would fight to preserve the way of life that denigrated them.

  The propaganda was ineffective. The men knew what fighting in the war meant to them and to the black race. Black journalists in Europe followed their every move and reported their successes and trials. Stories in the black press began to refer to the 369th as the Harlem Hellfighters.

  The men of the 369th learned the French weapons quickly. They also met French colonial soldiers from Africa. The French officers were more than pleased with the Americans’ discipline and relative good humor. But they also knew that the German troops coming from the eastern front would pose a severe challenge to the men, who had never experienced combat before. The Germans, to have any chance to win the war, would have to strike quickly, before the Americans gained experience. Rumors of a major German offensive turned into a surety as intelligence reports showed a hurried buildup along the entire western front. The offensive would be on French territory in the spring. If the black troops held in battle, they could save France.